I’ve been saying this for several years. We MUST, as a nation, raise our voices and let our government know that the fight against sex trafficking should NOT be against the children forced into sexual slavery by their traffickers. Instead, we should be enforcing stronger penalties on the buyers, who are rarely arrested or prosecuted for their actions.

Child runaways who are tricked or forced by “pimps” into a life of prostitution should not be treated as criminals. Why is it the girls who are held by police after a raid on a hotel room and not the men buying them? “It is the girl, repeatedly raped by grown men, who is shackled and put behind bars. Rarely are these girls perceived as victims.”